The analog display of the time on a timepiece is usually based on hands for hour, minute and seconds. These hands are driven by a clockwork mechanism or watch movement which is mounted in a case. Through the glass of the case, the angular position of the hands on a scale can be determined, yielding the current time.
In addition to the hands driven by the movement, such as the hour and minute hands, the state of the art also reveals hands that are not driven by the watch movement, see for example, document CH 343 919 A. Such non-movement-driven hands can be adjusted manually without affecting the angular positions and rotary motions of the movement-driven hands and serve for example for measuring the duration of dives on diving watches. In contrast, document DE 10 2010 020 466 A1 discloses a timepiece that features a hand that can be rotated manually, where the manual rotation affects the angular positions of the remaining hands such as the hour and minute hands. For the timepiece described in document DE 10 2010 020 466 A1, a display of the time is affected when the manually rotatable hand coincides with the remaining hands.
For an unambiguous determination of the angular position of the hands for reading the time, the hands must point in a clearly identifiable direction on the time scale. In the design of the various elements of the display of a timepiece, such as hands, scales and numbers, it therefore has to be taken into account that the direction of the hands is clearly visible. If the hands do not display a clearly identifiable direction or are covered by other elements of the display such that the indicated direction is not clear, the current time cannot be read correctly or only with poor precision. The requirement that the hands must display a clearly identifiable direction, therefore, limits the design possibilities of the elements of the display.